Apparatuses and methods for disrupting and preventing snore

ABSTRACT

Apparatuses and methods for snore disrupting and prevention are disclosed. One apparatus includes: an inflatable bladder assembly configured to inflate and deflate to move a head of a user; a conduit connected to the bladder assembly and configured to extend at a distance from the bladder assembly; an air inflator connected to the conduit for inflating the bladder assembly through the conduit, the air inflator being at the distance from the bladder assembly when in use to minimize noise, radiation or discomfort for the user a controller in communication with the air inflator to actuate the air inflator to inflate the bladder assembly; and an audio processor in communication with the controller, the audio processor being configured to detect sound waves and transmit control commands to the controller to trigger cyclical actuation of the air inflator upon a trigger event.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to apparatuses and methods formoving the snorer's head when sleeping for disrupting and preventingsnoring.

BACKGROUND

Snoring is the vibration of respiratory structures and the resultingsound. The irregular airflow is caused by a narrowing, collapsing orblockage of a passageway and is mostly due to relaxing throat musclesand in some cases is extended to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

Statistically, at least 30% of adults snore and rising to 60% of men and40% of women aged 60 to 65 years; this suggests an increasedsusceptibility to snoring as age increases.

Snoring is known to cause sleep deprivation to snorers and those aroundthem, as well as daytime drowsiness, irritability, lack of focus anddecreased libido. It has also been suggested that it can causesignificant psychological and social damage to sufferers. Multiplestudies reveal a positive correlation between loud snoring and increasedrisk of heart attack by about 34%, and increased risk of stroke by about67%.

Some systems may require specific pillow bodies limiting the pillowoptions of the user, where the user might have medical or personalpreference choosing his/her pillow based on a range of featuresincluding size, softness, hardness, rigidity, neck support, air flow,material allergies, etc. In some methods and systems, the displacementcomponent is isolated with limited effective area and may not beeffective if user's head is not placed directly on top of thedisplacement component and elsewhere along the length of the pillow.Furthermore, some systems place the mechanical and hydraulic componentsof the system, such as pumps and motors, within a pillow body, resultingin loud noise or vibration in close proximity of the user's head. Thisnoise or vibration results in disrupting the sleep of the snorer as wellas other individuals in proximity of the system. In addition, thebattery and electrical components being housed within the pillow bodyresults in exposing the head of the user to a number of potentialharmful elements such as radiation, electromagnetic fields, and such,which can result in headaches and other symptoms.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, an apparatus for disrupting or preventing snoring mayinclude: an inflatable bladder assembly configured to inflate anddeflate to move a head of a user; a conduit connected to the bladderassembly and configured to extend at a distance from the bladderassembly; an air inflator connected to the conduit for inflating thebladder assembly through the conduit, the air inflator being at thedistance from the bladder assembly when in use to minimize noise,radiation or discomfort for the user; a controller in communication withthe air inflator to actuate the air inflator to inflate the bladderassembly; and an audio processor in communication with the controller,the audio processor being configured to detect sound waves and transmitcontrol commands to the controller to trigger cyclical actuation of theair inflator upon a trigger event, the trigger event including detectionof a snoring sound or another trigger event.

In another aspect, the bladder assembly may contact a pillow to raisethe head of the user in contact with the pillow when in use.

In yet another aspect, the bladder assembly may be configured to inflatesuch that all components of the bladder assembly are displaced duringthe inflation.

In still another aspect, an entire top surface of the bladder assemblyis configured to rise simultaneously along a vertical axis of thebladder assembly during the inflation.

In one aspect, the bladder assembly may include rigid or semi-rigidsegments pivotally hinged together and an internal inflatable chamber tomove the hinged segments, wherein the internal inflatable chamber iscoupled to the conduit for inflation.

In another aspect, the controller may be configured to actuate the airinflator on or off periodically to provide an inflation cycle with aninflating time and a deflating time, the inflation cycle being initiatedonce the trigger event is detected.

In yet another aspect, the controller may be configured to control thespeed at which the air inflator inflates the bladder assembly at apre-determined rate to provide different inflation patterns.

In still another aspect, the apparatus may further include an audiosensor or microphone coupled to the audio processor to receive the soundwaves.

In one aspect, the bladder assembly may include a sleeve assembly and aninflatable bladder configured to be received within the sleeve assembly.

In another aspect, the sleeve assembly may include a plurality of rigidor semi-rigid segments, each segment being pivotally hinged to anadjacent segment at each end of the segment, such that the inflatablebladder, during the inflation, is configured to expand the plurality ofrigid or semi-rigid segments outwardly.

In yet another aspect, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments maybe configured to form a cylindrical or polygonal shape.

In one aspect, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments may includeat least a first segment with a first width and a second segment with asecond width, wherein the first width is greater than the second width,and wherein the first segment is positioned at a bottom of theinflatable bladder when the inflatable bladder is inflated.

In another aspect, the first width has a dimension that is equal to orgreater than a corresponding width of the inflated inflatable bladder.

In still another aspect, each segment may be pivotally hinged to anadjacent segment at a flexible component.

In one aspect, the flexible component may include extruded flexiblematerial.

In another aspect, the sleeve assembly comprises a plurality of flexiblepockets, each pocket configured to receive a corresponding one of theplurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments within, each of the pocketsbeing hinged to adjacent pockets for pivotal movement during theinflation.

In yet another aspect, the bladder assembly may be collapsible orfoldable.

In still another aspect, the rigid or semi-rigid segment may include anelongated bar structure adapted to be received within the correspondingflexible pocket.

In one aspect, the apparatus may include a valve configured to deflatethe bladder assembly.

In another aspect, the apparatus may include a soundproof housing tosuspend the air inflator using suspension components including one of: aring, a saddle, and a spring.

In yet another aspect, the air inflator may be configured to expand thebladder assembly to a pre-determined maximum size based on a pressurecontrol.

In still another aspect, the audio processor may couple to one or moremicrophones and is configured to receive sound waves from a plurality ofsources as detected by the one or more microphones, and wherein theaudio processor is configured to identify a location of a snorer byanalyzing the sound waves from the plurality of sources.

In one aspect, the audio processor may be configured to receive soundwaves from a plurality of sources and determine a plurality ofcorresponding locations of the sources.

In another aspect, the bladder assembly may be configured for placementwithin an opening of the pillow, under the pillow or having anintegrated padding to provide the pillow.

In yet another aspect, the air inflator may be coupled to a wired orwireless transceiver for communication with at least one of the conduitand the controller of the apparatus.

In still another aspect, the audio processor may couple to a wired orwireless transceiver for receiving the sound waves and transmitting thecontrol commands.

In one aspect, the controller may activate a cycle when the snoringsound is detected to trigger a cyclical motion of inflation anddeflation.

In another aspect, the inflatable bladder may create movementsimultaneously along an entire length of the bladder assembly.

In yet another aspect, the apparatus may include a silencing componentto reduce transfer of noise and vibration from the air inflator duringthe inflation.

In one aspect, a method for disrupting or preventing a user from snoringmay include: receiving sound wave by an audio sensing component;analyzing, by a controller in communication with the audio sensingcomponent, said sound wave to determine if a snoring sound has occurred;upon determining that the snoring sound has occurred: activating an airinflator outside of the pillow, by the controller, to inflate and expandan inflatable bladder assembly to cause a pillow to move to a raisedposition, wherein the bladder assembly is connected to the air inflatorthrough a conduit, the conduit extendable from the bladder assembly at adistance so that the user is not disturbed by any sound of the airinflator being activated; and deactivating the air inflator, by thecontroller, after a pre-determined period of time, to lower the pillowfrom the raised position.

In another aspect, the method may include determining, by an audioprocessor of the controller: that the snoring sound has occurred; and adigital snore signature of the snoring sound by processing the soundwaves, the digital snore signature being linked to the user.

In yet another aspect, the digital snore signature may includeelectronic identification data corresponding to a recognized user.

In still another aspect, the method may include recognizing a userassociated with the sound wave and the snoring sound using storedhistorical sound waves.

In one aspect, the method may include recognizing and filtering thesound wave to discern the snoring sound from other types of sounds.

In another aspect, the method may include receiving confirmation of thedetected snoring sound or an error to refine the audio processor usingmachine learning.

In still another aspect, the method may include correlating the soundwaves to additional sound waves received from other devices and storedon a shared or cloud storage device.

In yet another aspect, the method may include actuating the inflatablebladder assembly for different lengths of time and different intervalsof time based on one or more inflation patterns.

In one aspect, the method may include: 1) predicting the occurrence ofthe snoring sound prior to a detection of the snoring sound from thesound waves; and 2) triggering the controller to actuate the inflatablebladder assembly, the prediction based on a snoring profile of a user,the snoring profile comprising at least historical user data.

In one aspect, an apparatus for disrupting or preventing snoring mayinclude: an inflatable bladder assembly configured to inflate anddeflate to move a head of user, the bladder assembly having a topsurface, such that the entire top surface of the bladder assembly isoperable to rise simultaneously during inflation; a conduit connected tothe bladder assembly; an air inflator connected to the conduit forinflating the bladder assembly through the conduit when in use; acontroller in communication with the air inflator to actuate the airinflator to inflate the bladder assembly; and an audio processor incommunication with the controller, the audio processor being configuredto detect sound waves and transmit control commands to the controller totrigger actuation of the air inflator upon a trigger event, the triggerevent including detection of a snoring sound or another trigger event.

In one aspect, the bladder assembly may contact a pillow to raise thehead of the user in contact with the pillow when in use.

In another aspect, the entire top surface of the bladder assembly may beconfigured to rise at the same rate along a vertical axis of the bladderassembly during the inflation.

In yet another aspect, the bladder assembly may include rigid orsemi-rigid segments pivotally hinged together and an internal inflatablechamber to move the hinged segments, wherein the internal inflatablechamber is coupled to the conduit for inflation.

In still another aspect, the bladder assembly may include a sleeveassembly and an inflatable bladder connected to the conduit andconfigured to be received within the sleeve assembly.

In one aspect, the sleeve assembly may include a plurality of rigid orsemi-rigid segments, each segment being pivotally hinged to an adjacentsegment at each end of the segment, such that the inflatable bladder,during the inflation, is configured to expand the plurality of rigid orsemi-rigid segments outwardly.

In another aspect, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments may beconfigured to form a cylindrical or polygonal shape.

In one aspect, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments may includeat least a first segment with a first width and a second segment with asecond width, wherein the first width is greater than the second width,and wherein the first segment is positioned at a bottom of theinflatable bladder when the inflatable bladder is inflated.

In another aspect, the first width has a dimension that is equal to orgreater than a corresponding width of the inflated inflatable bladder.

In yet another aspect, each segment may be pivotally hinged to anadjacent segment at a flexible component.

In still another aspect, the flexible component may include extrudedflexible material.

In one aspect, the sleeve assembly may include a plurality of flexiblepockets, each pocket configured to receive a corresponding one of theplurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments within, each of the pocketsbeing hinged to adjacent pockets for pivotal movement during theinflation.

In one aspect, the bladder assembly or sleeve assembly may be foldableor collapsible.

In another aspect, the bladder assembly may be foldable to reduce afootprint occupied by the bladder assembly.

In another aspect, one or more of the plurality of rigid or semi-rigidsegments may include two or more sections, such that the bladderassembly is operable to be folded at least once into a smaller size.

In yet another aspect, the rigid or semi-rigid segment may include anelongated bar structure adapted to be received within the correspondingflexible pocket.

In still another aspect, the air inflator may be configured to expandthe bladder assembly to a pre-determined maximum size based on apressure control.

In one aspect, an apparatus for disrupting or preventing snoring mayinclude: an inflatable bladder assembly configured to inflate anddeflate to move a head of user; an conduit connected to the bladderassembly; an air inflator connected to the conduit for inflating thebladder assembly through the conduit when in use; a controller incommunication with the air inflator to actuate the air inflator toinflate the bladder assembly; and an audio processor in communicationwith the controller, the audio processor being configured to processsound waves to recognize a snoring sound from a user and transmitcontrol commands to the controller to trigger actuation of the airinflator.

In one aspect, the controller may be configured to actuate the airinflator on or off periodically upon recognition of the snoring sound toprovide an inflation cycle with an inflating time and a deflating time.

In another aspect, the inflation cycle, once initiated, may beconfigured to complete one cycle of a inflating time and a deflatingtime regardless of whether additional snoring sound has been recognized.

In another aspect, the audio processor may be configured to filter thesound waves to discern a snoring sound of the user from one or moresnoring sounds of one or more people other than the user.

In yet another aspect, the apparatus may include a valve configured todeflate the bladder assembly.

In still another aspect, the audio processor couples to one or moremicrophones and is configured to receive sound waves from a plurality ofsources as received by the one or more microphones, and wherein theaudio processor is configured to identify a location of a user byanalyzing the sound waves from the plurality of sources.

In one aspect, the audio processor may be configured to receive soundwaves from a plurality of sources and determine a plurality ofcorresponding locations of the sources.

In another aspect, the audio processor may couple to a wirelesstransceiver for receiving the sound waves and transmitting the controlcommands.

In another aspect, the controller may activate a cycle when the snoringsound is recognized to trigger a cyclical motion of inflation anddeflation.

In yet another aspect, the audio processor may be configured todetermine: 1) that the snoring sound has occurred; and 2) an digitalsnore signature of the snoring sound by processing the sound waves.

In still another aspect, the digital snore signature may includeelectronic identification data corresponding to a recognized user.

In one aspect, the audio processor may be configured determine that asnoring sound is likely to occur in a pre-determined period of time.

In another aspect, determination that the snoring sound is likely tooccur in a pre-determined period of time is based on at least historicaluser data.

In one aspect, the audio processor may be configured to recognize a userassociated with the sound wave and the snoring sound using storedhistorical sound waves.

In another aspect, the audio processor may be configured to filter thesound wave to discern the snoring sound from other types of sounds, suchas non-snoring sounds.

In yet another aspect, the apparatus may include a user feedbackreceiver to receive confirmation of the recognized snoring sound or anerror to refine the audio processor using machine learning.

In still another aspect, the audio processor may be further configuredto correlate the sound waves to additional sound waves received fromother devices and stored on a shared or cloud storage device.

In one aspect, the audio processor may be configured to: 1) predict theoccurrence of the snoring sound prior to a recognition of the snoringsound from the sound waves; and 2) trigger the controller to actuate theinflatable bladder assembly, the prediction based on a snoring profileof a user, the snoring profile comprising at least historical user data.

In one aspect, an apparatus for disrupting or preventing snoring mayinclude: an inflatable bladder assembly configured to inflate anddeflate to move a head of a user; an conduit connected to the bladderassembly; an air inflator connected to the conduit for inflating thebladder assembly through the conduit; a soundproof housing to house andsuspend the air inflator within, such that the user is free fromdisturbance from the air inflator when the air inflator is on; acontroller in communication with the air inflator to actuate the airinflator to inflate the bladder assembly; and an audio processor incommunication with the controller, the audio processor being configuredto detect sound waves and transmit control commands to the controller totrigger actuation of the air inflator upon a trigger event, the triggerevent including detection of a snoring sound or another trigger event.

In another aspect, the soundproof housing may be configured to suspendthe air inflator using suspension components including one of: a ring, asaddle, and a spring.

In another aspect, the ring may comprise foam.

In yet another aspect, the apparatus may include a silencing componentto reduce transfer of noise and vibration from the air inflator duringthe inflation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, embodiments of the present disclosure are illustratedby way of example. It is to be expressly understood that the descriptionand drawings are only for the purpose of illustration and as an aid tounderstanding, and are not intended as a definition of the limits of thepresent disclosure.

Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, withreference to the attached figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an example block schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is another example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is an example schematic block diagram of a controller.

FIG. 4A is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example bladderassembly when inflated.

FIG. 4B is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example bladderassembly when deflated.

FIG. 4C is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example bladderassembly when flattened.

FIG. 5 is an example schematic diagram of another apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment of asleeve assembly in an inflated position.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment of asleeve assembly in a deflated position.

FIG. 8A shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment of abladder assembly.

FIG. 8B shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment ofanother bladder assembly.

FIG. 9A illustrates an example embodiment of an air inflator suspendedby foam.

FIG. 9B illustrates an example embodiment of an air inflator suspendedby spring.

FIG. 9C illustrates another example embodiment of an air inflatorsuspended by spring.

FIG. 9D illustrates yet another example embodiment of an air inflatorsuspended by spring.

FIG. 10 is an example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention for one user with a partner control device.

FIG. 11 is an example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention with two microphones.

FIG. 12 is another example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention.

FIG. 13 is another example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention with two microphones.

FIG. 14 is an example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention for two users.

FIG. 15 is another example schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption or prevention for two users.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method of snore detection anddisruption as performed by an apparatus for snore disruption.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method of discerning a snoringsound.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example embodiment of a foldable bladderassembly.

FIG. 19A illustrates a schematic side view of an example semi-deflatedbladder assembly with support beams.

FIG. 19B illustrates a schematic top view of an example semi-deflatedbladder assembly with support beams.

FIG. 19C illustrates a schematic side view of an example inflatedbladder assembly with support beams.

FIG. 19D illustrates a schematic side view of an example inflatedbladder assembly with support beams.

FIG. 20A is a schematic illustration of an example modular piece of anexample bladder assembly.

FIG. 20B is a schematic illustration of an example bladder assemblycomposed of a plurality of modular pieces in FIG. 20A.

FIG. 21 illustrates a perspective view of a foldable bladder assemblycomposed of a plurality of modular pieces.

FIG. 22 illustrates various schematic side views of a foldable bladderassembly composed of a plurality of modular pieces.

FIG. 23 is a schematic illustration of a bladder assembly with twoinflatable bladders.

FIG. 24 is a schematic illustration of an example pressure releasevalve.

FIG. 25 illustrates various examples of a silencing component.

FIG. 26A illustrates a schematic side view of another example sleeveassembly when deflated.

FIG. 26B illustrates a schematic cross-sectional side view of an exampleinflated bladder assembly with the example sleeve assembly in FIG. 26A.

FIG. 26C illustrates a schematic top view of the example sleeve assemblyin FIG. 26A when flattened.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of methods, systems, and apparatus are described throughreference to the drawings.

Embodiments described herein relate to a system and method fordisrupting or preventing snore by changing a position of user orsnorer's head in a cyclical motion in order to interrupt or reduce noiseof snoring sounds, thereby improving quality of sleep for both the userand the user's partner who may be sleeping in the same room. In somecases, embodiments described herein may be configured to predict that auser is about to snore, and based on the prediction, to act topre-emptively reduce noise of snoring sounds. In some cases, embodimentsdescribed herein may be capable of preventing a user from snoring.

In some aspect, embodiments described herein may be operable to treatobstructive sleep related breathing disorders such as sleep apnea.

In some aspect, an apparatus is disclosed to determine occurrence of atrigger event prior to inflating a bladder assembly in close proximityto a user's head. The inflating motion of the bladder assembly may beoperable to stimulate the throat muscles and open up the user's airwayin his or her throat to interrupt and reduce snoring, as a partiallyblocked (or collapsed) airway may cause snoring. The trigger event canbe a detection of a snoring sound, or the determination or predictionthat a user is about to snore. As such, an apparatus may be configuredto interrupt a user's snoring, reduce noise of a snoring sound from auser, or both.

In one aspect, one or more embodiments described herein may include abladder assembly that can be used with different pillows, has highportability, and is operable to facilitate a controlled verticalmovement of the bladder assembly to reduce sound of snoring of a user.For example, an entire top surface of the bladder assembly may beconfigured to rise at the same rate along a vertical axis of the bladderassembly to move a user's head during the user's sleep. Moving a user'shead may include raising or lowering a user's head, as well asdisplacing a user's head in any direction relative to a centre point ofbladder assembly or pillow.

FIG. 1 is an example block schematic diagram of an apparatus for snoredisruption, according to some embodiments.

As shown, an example embodiment of a snore disrupting apparatus 10 mayinclude an inflatable bladder assembly 110, a conduit 120, a controller130, an air inflator or pump 140, an audio processor 150, and anoptional audio sensor or microphone 160. Apparatus 10 may also include apower source.

Inflatable bladder assembly 110 may be configured to inflate and deflateto move a head of a user. For example, bladder assembly 110 may beinflated to raise a head of a user. Conduit 120 may be connected to thebladder assembly and configured to extend at a distance from the bladderassembly. Conduit may be a tube or any suitable means to facilitateliquid or air communication between bladder assembly 110 and airinflator 140. Inflatable bladder assembly 110 may be positioned under orwithin a pillow of a user in order to move the user's head when in use.Inflatable bladder assembly 110 may also have integrated cushions toprovide the pillow for the user. These are examples and otherembodiments may have different configurations to contact user to movethe user's head when in use.

Air inflator 140 may be connected to conduit for inflating bladderassembly 110 through the conduit 120, air inflator 140 being at thedistance from the bladder assembly 110 when in use to minimize noise,exposure to electromagnetic field and radiation or discomfort for auser. The conduit 120 may be a tube, for example, that connects the airinflator 140 and the bladder assembly 110 such that the air inflator maybe positioned away from the bladder assembly 110 but may still beconnected thereto to trigger inflation thereof. The distance may be inthe range of 0.5 to 4 meters, as an illustrative example. The conduit120 may enable the air inflator 140 to be positioned under a bed or in adrawer, for example.

In some embodiments, for example as shown in FIG. 13, all electronic ornoisy components such as air inflator 140, electronic circuits, on/offcontrol, on/off control, and optional decorative components such aslight, clock, radio and so on may be housed in a housing 630 and placedrelatively close to the user, if a pre-determined minimal level ofnoise, radiation, and electromagnetic field reaches the user fromhousing 630 while the apparatus is on.

Referring back to FIG. 1, in some embodiments, air inflator 140 may be alow-noise air pump, as to minimally disturb a user who is sleeping.

Controller 130 may be in communication with air inflator 140 to initiateor actuate air inflator 140, which when actuated, may inflate inflatablecomponents of the bladder assembly 110 to cause movement of user's headto interrupt or reduce a noise caused by snoring.

Audio processor 150 may be in communication with controller 130. Theaudio processor 150 is configured to detect sound waves emanating fromuser and process the sound waves to detect a trigger event. The audioprocessor 150 may process the sound waves by filtering out other soundsnot relating to the user or snoring. The audio processor 150 maytransmit control commands to controller 130 to trigger cyclicalactuation of air inflator 140 upon detection of the trigger event. Anexample trigger event may be detection of a snoring sound or anothertrigger event, such as a prediction of a snoring sound for a user, apredefined cycle or time based trigger event (e.g. every hour, atcertain times).

For example, a cyclical actuation of air inflator 140 may cause airinflator 140 to start a cyclical motion, e.g. one or more cycles ofinflation and deflation. For example, a cyclical motion may include oneor more rounds of inflation and deflation. One round of inflation anddeflation may include 1) one or more periods during which air inflator140 is pumping air into bladder assembly 110 via conduit 120(“inflation”); and 2) one or more periods during which air inflator 140is deactivate, causing bladder assembly 110 to deflate or at leastmaintain a current level of volume (“deflation”). In some embodiments,one round of inflation and deflation may have a pre-determined patternof inflation and deflation. A pattern of inflation and deflation may be,for example, 20 seconds of inflation followed by 10 seconds ofdeflation. Another pattern of inflation and deflation may be, forexample, 10 seconds of inflation, 10 seconds of deflation, and 15seconds of inflation. Within a cyclical motion, each round of inflationand deflation may have a different pattern. In some embodiments, acyclical motion may only have inflation patterns or deflation patterns,or both inflation and deflation patterns. Inflation and deflationpatterns in a cyclical motion may be pre-determined, or user-customized,or crowd-sourced based on historical user data from one or more users.

In some embodiments, audio processor 150 may include an internal audiosensor or microphone for detecting sound waves, or may connect to anexternal audio sensor for receiving sound waves. For example, theexternal audio sensor may be a microphone in a smart phone or “Internetof Things” device that may be positioned proximate to the user toreceive sound waves emanating from the user.

In some embodiments, apparatus 10 may further include an integratedaudio sensor or microphone 160 coupled to audio processor 150 forreceiving sound waves and transmitting said sound waves to audioprocessor 150.

In some embodiments, one or more of controller 130, audio processor 150and audio sensor 160 may be part of a consumer electronic device such asa laptop, a mobile phone, a smart device, or bespoke device that may beconfigured to communicate to the rest of the apparatus 10 in a wired orwireless setting.

In some embodiments, audio processor 150 may be coupled to a wirelesstransceiver for receiving the sound waves and transmitting the controlcommands. This may enable audio processor 150 to be positioned proximateto the user to receive sounds waves while the other components(particularly components that may make noise or emit radiation) may bepositioned further from the user while still being coupled to the audioprocessor 150.

In some embodiments, air inflator 140 may be coupled to a wirelesstransceiver for communication with at least one of conduit 120 andcontroller 130 of the apparatus 10.

In some embodiments, air inflator 140 may be integrally connected toaudio processor 150. For example, an air inflator 140 may have a designthat may be optimized to reduce noise or radiation so may be proximateto the user without causing disruption.

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 110 may be configured to contact apillow to move or raise the head of the user that is in contact with thepillow when in use. The pillow may or may not include a pillow case. Insome embodiments, bladder assembly 110 may be configured for placementwithin an opening of the pillow, under the pillow or having anintegrated padding to provide the pillow. In some embodiments, bladderassembly 110 may serve as a pillow for a user. For example, bladderassembly 110 may include padding or cushioning material to serve as apillow.

In some embodiments, air inflator 140 is placed at a distance from theuser, the distance being sufficiently far from the user that whenactivated or in operation, any sounds or vibrations from air inflator140 would not disturb the user or anyone in close proximity to the user.For example, air inflator 140 may be placed approximately 1 to 3 metersfrom the user's head. This is an illustrative example distance. Forexample, air inflator 140 may be placed on the floor, and connected viaconduit 120 to bladder assembly 110, which is in close proximity to theuser's head.

In some embodiments, controller 130, audio processor 150 or audio sensor160 may also be placed at a distance from the user in order to avoidpotential harmful effects such as radiation or magnetic fields. Forexample, one or more of controller 130, audio processor 150 and audiosensor 160 may be placed within the same housing as air inflator 140, orin a separate housing away from the user.

In some embodiments, air inflator 140 may be placed within a housingthat can prevent (reduce) noise and vibration from reaching a user inproximity therewith. Air inflator 140 may include a pump which may causenoise with inflating bladder assembly 110. For example, a soundproofhousing may be used to house and suspend air inflator 140 within, suchthat the user is free from disturbance from the air inflator when theair inflator is on. Air inflator 140 may be suspended in mid-air, suchthat gas in the air may muffle or otherwise reduce the volume of sound.

In one embodiment, the soundproof housing may be configured to suspendthe air inflator using suspension components including one of a ring, asaddle, and a spring that may contact the air inflator 140 to suspendwithin the housing.

Referring now to FIGS. 9A to 9D, which show various embodiments of asuspended air inflator 140 within a housing. As can be seen, airinflator 140 may be suspended from a surface 190 by suspensioncomponents 910, 920. Surface 190 may be a ground surface or a bottomsurface of a soundproof housing (e.g. housing 630 in FIGS. 10-15). Airinflator 140 may be suspended at two ends 180 a, 180 b.

In FIG. 9A, each end 180 a, 180 b of air inflator 140 is supported by asuspension component 910 made of foam or similar material. Foam mayabsorb vibration or other types of movement, as to reduce or eliminatenoise from movements of air inflator 140.

In FIGS. 9B, 9C and 9D, each end 180 a, 180 b of air inflator 140 issupported by a support structure 185 and a suspension component 920.Suspension component 920 may be made of spring or another type ofresilient device that may absorb or eliminate movements of air inflator140. Support structure 185 may be a rigid structure that is capable ofholding or supporting the weight of air inflator 140 for a prolongedperiod of time. In FIG. 9B, a first end of each of three suspensioncomponents 920 is connected or coupled to the air inflator 140 at aposition proximate the center of a first end 180 a of air inflator 140,and a second end of each of the three suspension components 920 isconnected or coupled to a support structure 185 at different locationson the support structure 185. Similar suspension mechanism is done atthe second end 180 b of air inflator 140. This way, support structure185 can safely hold air inflator 140 in mid-air as not to physicallycontact any part of housing 630, so that vibrations or noise escapingthe housing of air inflator 140 may be reduced or eliminated. Movementsof air inflator 140 may also be dampened since movements may be absorbedby suspension components 920.

In FIGS. 9C and 9D, support structures 185 are shown to be placed atdifferent locations relative to a vertical center of air inflator 140.Each suspension component such as spring 920 may be coupled at one endto support structure 185 and at the other end to any suitable locationson air inflator 140, as long as positioning of the two supportstructures 185 are more or less symmetrical with respect to the verticalcenter of air inflator 140 to achieve a balanced load in suspension.

Even though three suspension components 920 are shown in FIGS. 9B, 9Cand 9D, the number of springs that may be used to suspend air inflator140 may be less or more than three. For example, two suspensioncomponents 920 may be used for each end 180 a, 180 b. For anotherexample, four suspension components 920 may be used for each end 180 a,180 b.

In another embodiment, apparatus 10 may further include a silencingcomponent (see for example FIG. 5 silencing component 519) to reducetransfer of noise and vibration from the air inflator to surroundingenvironment when air inflator is on, so that one or more users are notdisturbed during sleep.

Referring now to FIG. 25, which illustrate various example embodimentsof a silencing component 519. The silencing component may be positionedon conduit 120, 518 to reduce the noise of the vibration of gas that maypass through to inflate the bladder assembly 110, 510. An air inlet 518a and an air outlet 518 b may be connected to conduit 120, 518 andhoused within silencing component 519 to reduce noise generated by airinflator 140 or conduit 120, 518.

A silencing component may be similar in nature to a car exhaust pipesilencer, or any other suitable silencing structure that includes two ormore chambers to silence vibrations.

In some embodiment, air inflator 140 may not be required to be placed ata distance from the user, with either the soundproof housing or thesilencing component, since the noise or vibration coming from airinflator 140 may be greatly reduced by either the housing or thesilencing component or design of the air inflator 140.

In some embodiment, controller 130 may be configured to actuate the airinflator 140 on or off periodically to provide an inflation cycle. Theinflation cycle may have an inflating time and a deflating time, theinflation cycle being initiated once the snoring sound or other triggerevent detected. The inflating time may be the time to inflate thebladder assembly 110 and the deflating time may be the time to deflatethe bladder assembly 110. The inflating time may be different from thedeflating time, or may be the same depending on how long it takes toinflate the bladder assembly 110 and deflate the bladder assembly 110.

In some embodiment, controller 130 may be configured to control thespeed at which the air inflator 140 inflates the bladder assembly 110 ata pre-determined rate to provide different inflation patterns. Inflationpatterns may include a variety of patterns, each pattern including aninflation and corresponding deflation during a cycle, as well as othertypes of inflation characteristics such as speed of inflation for eachcycle. In some embodiments, an inflation pattern may include informationregarding multi-cycles, such as frequency of cycles. An inflationpattern may be linked to different trigger events such that differentinflation patterns may be used depending on the detected trigger event.For example, for some users a better result may be achieved with aslow-rise inflation pattern, while for another user a high-rise pillowafter inflation may be optimal. In some cases, the inflation patternsmay not be dictated by user preference alone. For example, the reasonfor using different patterns or speeds may be to achieve optimizedperformance of the apparatus. The settings may be controlled or adjustedby the user or automatically by controller 130. Inflation patterns maybe stored locally within controller 130 or remotely, for example, on adatabase 220 accessible via network 210.

In some embodiments, once an inflation cycle has been initiated oractivated by controller 130, air inflator 140 may be configured toproceed to complete the entire cycle at least once, regardless ofwhether a new trigger event has been detected (e.g. determination of anew snoring sound) prior to completion of the cycle.

In some embodiments, controller 130 may be configured to set apre-determined number of cycles to complete prior to detection ofadditional trigger events. For example, once a trigger event is detectedthe a cycle may commence and any additional trigger events may beignored (even temporarily) until the cycle finishes without triggeringre-start of the cycle mid-way through a cycle that has alreadycommenced. After the cycle completes then it may restart if a triggerevent was detected mid-way in the cycle. This may be based on a defaultsetting or user preference, for example.

In some embodiments, apparatus 10 may further include a valve configuredto deflate the bladder assembly 110. This may trigger the start of thedeflation cycle for example. The apparatus 10 may further includeadditional components to facilitate deflation of the bladder assembly110 to, for example, compress the bladder assembly 110 during thedeflation cycle.

In some embodiments, air inflator 140 may be configured to expandbladder assembly 110 to a pre-determined maximum size based on pressurecontrol. The pressure control may be pre-determined by user setting oras a default setting. Pressure control may ensure that bladder assembly110 or a pillow in use with the bladder assembly 110 is not overexpanded or damaged in any manner. For example, the pressure control maybe performed by a pressure release valve 523, which is shown in FIG. 5.A pressure release valve may be for example a standard industrycomponent, see for example FIG. 24, which demonstrate an examplepressure release valve 523 connected to a conduit 518. Through the useof an air flow blocker and a spring, pressure control may be achieved.

In some embodiments, audio processor 150 may be configured to receivesound waves from a plurality of sources and determine a plurality ofcorresponding locations of the sources. This may help audio processor150 identify source of snoring sound if there are multiple people in thesame room for example. This may also help audio processor 150 filter outsounds that do not emanate from the user if the user location is known,for example, and different from a detected location of another source ofsound waves.

In some embodiments, additional sensors might be in communication withthe device to improve detection of snoring or predict snoring based onhistorical data from the user or other users. Additional sensors may bepart of the apparatus or the data can be received from other productsthat measure and communicate biological or bio-signal data such as heartrate, brain waves and EEG readings, and body heat. Some components maybe in “sleep” mode until the apparatus determines the user is sleeping.For example, sensors that sense biological or bio-signal data (pulse,brainwaves) may be used to determine that the user is sleeping (e.g.sleep state) or in a deep sleep state that may increase likelihood ofsnoring, which may be used to predict snoring.

In some embodiments, audio processor 150 and controller 130 may beconfigured to be part of the same device or component to integrateprocessing of sound waves and activation of inflation.

In some embodiments, audio processor 150 may be coupled to one or moreaudio sensors or microphones 160 and configured to receive sound wavesfrom a plurality of sources as detected by the one or more microphones160. The audio processor 150 may be configured to identify a location ofa snorer by analyzing the sound waves from the plurality of sources.

Apparatus 10 may also include an ON/OFF switch, either as a standalonedevice, or as part of audio processor 150, audio sensor 160 orcontroller 130, to turn apparatus 10 on or off.

In some embodiments, one or more components of apparatus 10 may beequipped with additional sensors such as motion sensor, light sensor,heat sensor, humidity sensor, air particle sensor, proximity sensor, andso on.

In some embodiments, one or more components of apparatus 10 may beequipped with a digital display to provide reports, a current time,detected snore sounds, and other information to a user.

In some embodiments, controller 130 may be configured to record andstore user snoring patterns. The user snoring patterns may provide adigital snore signature for the user. The digital snore signature may beunique to the user in order to recognize sound waves emanating from theuser and filter out sound waves from other sources. The signature mayinclude frequency range, loudness, or patterns of snoring. Controller130 may be further configured to transmit the stored user information toother devices such as mobile phones, computers, or laptops over wired orwireless communication.

FIG. 2 is another example schematic diagram of an apparatus 20 for snoredisruption or prevention, according to some embodiments. Apparatus 20may include an inflatable bladder assembly 110, a conduit 120, acontroller 130, an air inflator or pump 140, an audio processor 150, andan audio sensor or microphone 160 distributed across a network 210.Database 220 may be provided to store user information and otherelectronic data. Database 220 may reside on a physical data storagedevice. Database 220 may store data relating to multiple users andcorrelate data to detect trends and patterns in data across multipleusers. Machine learning techniques may be used to refine processing byaudio processor 150 to improve detection trigger events to predictsnoring.

Various components of apparatus 20, such as controller 130, audioprocessor 140 and audio sensor 160 may be implemented using hardware andsoftware, individually or in combination, and may be fixed and/orprovided in various electronic forms, such as on non-transitorycomputer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, distributednetwork resources (e.g., in a “cloud computing” arrangement or aspoke-and-hub topology), and web service. In some embodiments, thesystem may be provided using a centralized cloud server, having variousendpoint devices that it may communicate and/or control. In someembodiments, the system may be provided in the form of an ad-hoc networkoperating across one or more computing devices.

FIG. 3 is an example block schematic diagram of a controller. In anembodiment, controller 130 may be implemented using one or morecomputing devices. The computing devices may be the same or differenttypes of devices. The computing device may include, for example, atleast one processor, a data storage device (including volatile memory ornon-volatile memory or other data storage elements or a combinationthereof), and at least one communication interface. The computing devicecomponents may be connected in various ways including directly coupled,indirectly coupled via a network, and distributed over a wide geographicarea and connected via a network (which may be referred to as “cloudcomputing”).

For example, and without limitation, the computing device may be aserver, network appliance, embedded device, personal computer, or anyother computing device capable of being configured to carry out themethods described herein.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example computing device that may beused to implement controller 130, exemplary of an embodiment. Asdepicted, computing device may include at least one processor 330,memory 332, at least one I/O interface 334, and at least one networkinterface 336. Although this figure relates to a controller 130, in someembodiments audio processor may including similar hardware components toreceive and process sound waves to detect trigger events from snoringsounds. For example, I/O interface 334 may connect to one or moremicrophones to receive sound waves for processing.

Each processor 330 may be, for example, any type of general-purposemicroprocessor or microcontroller, a digital signal processing (DSP)processor, an integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array(FPGA), a reconfigurable processor, or any combination thereof. Asnoted, for audio processor, the processor 330 may be configured toexecute code instructions to implement processes for detecting snoringevents or other trigger events, as will be described herein.

Memory 332 may include a suitable combination of any type of computermemory that is located either internally or externally such as, forexample, random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), compactdisc read-only memory (CDROM), electro-optical memory, magneto-opticalmemory, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), andelectrically-erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM),Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM) or the like.

Each I/O interface 334 enables controller 130 to interconnect with oneor more components, input devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, camera,touch screen and a microphone, or with one or more output devices suchas a display screen and a speaker.

Each network interface 336 enables controller 130 to communicate withother components (such as audio processor, conduit, for example), toexchange data with other components, to access and connect to networkresources, to serve applications, and perform other computingapplications by connecting to a network (or multiple networks) capableof carrying data, e.g., one more networks 210.

In some embodiments, controller 130 may be implemented as a physical orvirtual instance using various distributed-resource technologies, suchas “cloud computing”. Potential benefits to cloud computing include easeof adding or removing resources, load balancing, and so on.

Referring now to FIG. 4A, which is an example cross-sectional view of abladder assembly 110 when inflated in accordance with some embodiments.FIG. 4B is an example cross-sectional view of a bladder assembly whendeflated. FIG. 4C is an example cross-sectional view of a bladderassembly when flattened.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 110 may comprises rigid orsemi-rigid segments 410 pivotally hinged together and an internalinflatable chamber 420 a, 420 b to move or displace the hinged segments,where internal inflatable chamber 420 a, 420 b is coupled to conduit 120for inflation.

In some embodiment, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments 410may be configured to form a cylindrical or polygonal shape wheninflated.

The rigid or semi-rigid segments 410 may be a structure that issufficiently strong to sustain weight of a user's head. For example,each segment 410 may be a bar structure made from wood, steel,polyester, carbon fiber, and so on.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 110 may include optional externalchamber 430 a, 430 b for providing padding or cushion for a user's head.The external chamber 430 a, 430 b may be inflatable or may includenon-inflatable paddings.

The optional external chamber 430 a, 430 b may provide additionalcomfort for a user as his or her head is rested against bladder assembly110. As shown in FIG. 4A, as the external chambers 430 a are inflated,they provide some padding or cushion.

In some embodiment, each segment 410 may be pivotally coupled to or anadjacent segment 410 at a flexible component 415. The flexible component415 may also be referred to as a hinge 415 in this disclosure. Theinternal chambers 420 a, 420 b and pivotal connections at the flexiblecomponents 415 may enable a smooth, consistent inflating motion ofbladder assembly 110, such that when air inflator 140 is pumping airinto bladder assembly 110 via conduit 120, all components of bladderassembly 110 are configured to rise at around the same rate, ensuring alevel and steady rising motion across substantial amount or entire topsurface of bladder assembly 110. This way, disruption to the user isminimal when bladder assembly 110 causes his head to rise up.

In some embodiment, the flexible components 415 may be a relatively thinand soft component compared to rigid or semi-rigid segments 410.Segments 410 and flexible components 415 may be integrally formed orextruded.

In some embodiment, the flexible components 415 may be made fromextruded flexible material.

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 110 may contain no rigid or semisegments.

For example, bladder assembly 110 may contain one or more relativelyinflatable bladders without any rigid components. In effect, acombination of multiple bladders that expand during inflation, at all orsubstantially all parts, simultaneously due to a structural design ofthe soft fabric or bladder assembly itself may create a tension that maybe sufficient to support and raise a user's head a higher position.

Prior to inflation by air inflator 140 through conduit 120, bladderassembly 110 may be collapsed or folded, see e.g. FIG. 4B. When air ispumped into internal inflatable chamber 420 b, internal inflatablechamber 420 b becomes expanded or inflated to arrive at expandedinternal inflatable chamber 420 a as shown in FIG. 4A. Segments 410 areconsequently raised to a higher position relative to a level ground andthus capable of raising a user's head which may be placed on top ofbladder assembly 110.

Bladder assembly 110 may be foldable or collapsible. For example. FIG.4C shows a bladder assembly 110 that is flattened and easy to carry inone embodiment. The bladder assembly 110 has flexible components 415 a,415 b. Other configurations of bladder assembly 100 may be suitable fora foldable or collapsible mechanism.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 110 may be foldable longitudinallyin one or more place so that the assembly can be folded into a smallersize and packed for convenience. This foldable configuration may beachieved by using rigid blades or segments to section bladder assembly110 into multiple smaller sections.

Referring now to FIG. 18, which illustrates an example embodiment of afoldable bladder assembly 510. Bladder assembly 510 can be folded forbetter packing and portability when the rigid or semi-rigid ribs orsegments in the bladder assembly or sleeve assembly comprise multiplesections. As shown, bladder assembly 510 may be folded to reduce afootprint, e.g. an area of space in which bladder assembly occupies.

FIGS. 19A to 19D illustrate a top view and a side view of anotherexample bladder assembly 510 with support beams in a semi-deflated andan inflated state. Inflatable bladder 516 may be positioned adjacent orwithin sleeve assembly 517. Sleeve support beams 990 may be used tocouple bladder 516 on one end and sleeve assembly 517 on the other end,as shown. Sleeve support beams 990 may be coupled to sleeve assembly 517by hinges 980. Sleeve support beams 990 may be coupled to bladder 516 bybladder support beams 990, hinges 980 or both. When inflated, bladder516 may push bladder support beams 915 and sleeve support beams 990 oneach side to enhance structural integrity and increase tension of thebladder assembly.

FIG. 20A illustrates an example modular piece of an example bladderassembly and FIG. 20B illustrates an example bladder assembly 950comprising a plurality of modular pieces 930 in FIG. 20A. Each modularpiece 930 may comprise one or more hinges 940 and one or more hingeslots 945. A hinge slot 945 from a first modular piece 930 may beconfigured to receive a hinge 940 from a second modular piece 930, ascan be seen in FIG. 20B. Modular pieces 930 may be operable to snaptogether to form a flat structure that forms body of bladder assembly950. As hinges 940 may be configured to freely rotate within a hingeslot 945 when connected, bladder assembly 950 may be folded as shown inFIG. 21.

FIG. 21 illustrates a perspective view of a foldable bladder assembly950 composed of a plurality of modular pieces 930 with an inflatablebladder 516 within the bladder assembly 950.

In some embodiments, hinges 940 of bladder assembly 950 may beconfigured to only fold in one direction, enabling bladder assembly 950to raise the user's head vertically, while they can freely fold in theopposite direction.

FIG. 22 illustrates various side views of a foldable bladder assemblycomposed of a plurality of modular pieces. As shown, inflatable bladder516 may be connected to two modular pieces 930 by way of hinges 920,940. The two modular pieces 930 may be connected on one end by a hinge940 and may be open on the other end (the “open end”). As bladder 516 isinflated, modular pieces 930 coupled to bladder 516 such that the openend of the modular pieces 930 increase in distance, thereby lifting auser's head upward.

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 950 may be folded to a near flatstructure comprising a stack of modular pieces 930, as seen in FIG. 22.

FIG. 23 illustrates another example bladder assembly with two inflatablebladders 960. Two separate inflatable bladders 516 a, 516 b eachconnected to an independent source of air pressure via conduit 518 a,518 b respectively. Bladder assembly 960 may include two bladderassembly pieces, for example, a top bladder assembly piece and a bottomassembly piece. Each bladder assembly piece may folded in one direction,such as through a one-direction hinge as shown. As bladders 516 a, 516 bare inflated, top bladder assembly piece may be moved upwards relativeto the bladder bottom assembly piece, thereby raising a user's head.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 110 may be configured to expandsuch that all components, including the segments 410, the internalinflatable chamber, the hinges or flexible components 415 and theoptional external chamber of the bladder assembly, are displaced duringthe inflation.

For example, all or some components of bladder assembly 110 may beconfigured to rise at the same rate along a vertical axis of the bladderassembly during the inflation. For example, an entire surface of a topsurface of bladder assembly 110 may be configured to rise at the samerate along a vertical axis of the bladder assembly during the inflation.For another example, an entire surface of a top surface of bladderassembly 110 may be configured to rise simultaneously along a verticalaxis of the bladder assembly during the inflation.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 110 may create movementsimultaneously along an entire length of the bladder assembly, such thata user's head may be raised in a steady and smooth manner, interruptingor reducing noise from the snoring with minimal disturbance to the user

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 110 may include one or moreinflatable bladders.

FIG. 5 is an example schematic diagram of another apparatus 50 for snoredisruption, according to some embodiments. Apparatus 50 may include abladder assembly 510, an air inflator 512, a conduit 518, and controlunit 514. Apparatus 50 may further include a wired or wirelessaudio-sensor and transceiver 515, or a mobile device or any other devicethat would allow for audio sensing and analog or digital transmission.Bladder assembly 510 may be placed underneath a pillow or inside apillowcase. Bladder assembly 510 may be inflated and deflated by airinflator 512 and through expanding and increasing in volume, anddeflating and reducing in volume, gently moving the user's headstimulating throat muscles to open up the airway, hence disrupting thesnoring. The bladder assembly 510 may include at least one inflatablebladder 516 placed within a sleeve assembly 517, where the expansion andvolume increase of the at least one bladder 516 expands the sleeveassembly 517 as well and extends and transfers the expansion through thelength of the entire structure of sleeve assembly 517, thereforedisplacing the pillow along the length of sleeve assembly 517.

Thus, bladder assembly 510 may longitudinally extend to allow foreffective displacement along the length of a pillow used in conjunctionwith the apparatus.

In some embodiments, no mechanical or electrical components are placedin the pillow or under the head of the user, where bladder assembly 510is the only component that is placed in close proximity to the user,drastically reducing the issues of any noise and electromagnetic fieldexposure, allowing for a sleep with minimal disturbance for both userand if applicable, user's partner in the same room.

In some embodiment, apparatus 50 may include a bladder assembly 510, anair inflator 512, a valve 513, a control unit or electronic circuit 514,and a wired or wireless audio-sensor and transceiver 515, which can bewired or wireless microphone transceiver or a cellphone or any otherdevice suitable for audio sensing and analog or digital transmission.The bladder assembly 510 may include at least one inflatable bladder 516positioned inside a sleeve assembly 517 with a hard or rigid surface.The bladder assembly 510 can also be any other assembly of componentsthat would allow for increase in volume when inflated and reduction ofvolume when deflated. The bladder 516 is further connected to theinflator 512 through at least one conduit or tube 518. Bladder assembly510 may be placed underneath a pillow or inside the pillowcase. Theinflatable bladder 516 may be inflated and deflated by the inflator 512and through expanding and increasing in volume and deflating andreducing in volume changes the position of user's head, hence disruptingthe snoring.

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 510 may contain no rigid or semisegments.

For example, bladder assembly 510 may contain one or more relativelyinflatable bladders 516 without any rigid components. In effect, acombination of multiple bladders that expand during inflation, at all orsubstantially all parts, simultaneously due to a structural design ofthe soft fabric or bladder assembly itself may create a tension that maybe sufficient to support and raise a user's head a higher position.

In some embodiment, bladder assembly 510 or inflatable bladder 516 maybe foldable longitudinally in one or more place so that the bladderassembly 510 or inflatable bladder 516 can be folded into a smaller sizeand packed for convenience. This foldable configuration may be achievedby using rigid blades to section bladder assembly 510 or inflatablebladder 516 into multiple smaller sections.

Air inflator 512 may pressurize the bladder 516 through at least onetube or conduit 518, which may be a flexible plastic tube. The design ofthe air inflator 512 may be diaphragm, piston cylinder, blower, or anyother suitable means. Air inflator 512 may be covered by soundproofmaterial to reduce any noise when it is on.

Air inflator 512 may be connected to an optional valve 13, which mayconnect the outlet of inflator 512 to the atmosphere to depressurize theinflated bladder 516 while the inflator 512 is turned off. Valve 513 maybe a normally open mini solenoid valve or other suitable valve. Forexample, valve (or solenoid valve) 513 may be an on/off valve thatcreates a closed chamber when it is on so that the bladder can fill up.The valve 513 may be opened to allow the bladder 516 to deflate.

In some embodiments, apparatus 50 may further include an optionalpressure release valve 523 to prevent the inflatable bladder 516 frombursting or otherwise being damaged from being expanded beyond a certainthreshold. The pressure release valve 523 may prevent the bladder 516from going over a certain pressure threshold.

Air inflator 512 may further be connected to at least one silencingcomponent or silencer 519, which is connected to the outlet of theinflator 512 to reduce the transfer of the noise and vibration tobladder assembly 510.

Control unit 514 may include a power supply 520, which can be a batteryor an AC wall outlet or any other suitable sources of electrical power,a sound receiver and processor 521, and a controller 522. The controlunit 514 may turn the air inflator 512 on and off and controls thefunction of the snore disrupting apparatus. The control unit 514 mayfurther comprise an adjustable on and off timer relay, as part of itscontrol system, for setting the period of running the air inflator 512.The control unit 514 can be in part or whole a mobile device or anyother suitable device which can allow for sound processing andtransmitting.

Sound receiver and processor 521 of the electronic circuit unit 514,receives what electronic signals representing sound waves from theaudio-sensor and transceiver 515. The controller 522 of the control unit514 then turns on the inflator 512 once a snoring sound has beendetected. The sound receiver and processor 521 may comprise a noisefilter to eliminate the noise and may further comprise a voicerecognizing memory or a voice detector to distinguishing an individualsnorer's voice. The voice recognizing memory may be utilized when morethan one person snores in the same room and separate snore disruptingsystem are used in close proximity. In this case, the apparatus wouldrecognize the individual user's snoring sound. The snore disruptingsystem may work with or without voice recognizing memory.

Sound waves may be transmitted by wired or wireless audio-sensor andtransceiver 515 or any other device that would allow for audiotransmission, to the control unit 514, which switches on the inflator512 and closes the valve 513, resulting in the inflation of the bladder516 and thus bladder assembly 510.

What might be a snoring sound may be detected by a wired or wirelessaudio-sensor and transceiver 515 or any other device suitable for audiotransmission, and is transmitted to the sound receiver and processorunit 521 that is in communication with the control system 522. Whensignaled by the sound receiver and processor unit 521, the controlsystem 522 turns on the inflator 512 and closes the valve 513 for apredefined period of time, and then turns off the inflator 512 and opensthe valve 513 for a predefined period of time. The total of the on andoff time periods of the inflator 512 make one time cycle of the system.The running on and off of the inflator 512 may be done by a timer relayas part of the control system 522, receiving electrical signals from thesound receiver and processor unit 521.

By turning on the inflator 512, the bladder 516 is inflated, expandingthe bladder assembly 510, causing the snorer's head that is located onthe pillow or the bladder assembly to gently move up or in any otherdirection depending on the position of the head during a predefinedperiod of time. After the predefined period of the inflator 12 being onand the bladder assembly 510 reaching a predefined maximum expansion,the inflator 12 is turned off by the control system 522, allowing thebladder 16 to depressurize through the valve 13, causing the bladderassembly 510 to reduce in cross sectional area, resulting in the user'shead to move down or in any other direction depending on the position ofthe head.

In another embodiment, apparatus 50 does not require the audio-sensorand transceiver 515 nor the sound receiver and processor 521 as part ofthe control unit 514. In this embodiment the control unit 514 may be setto periodically turn the inflator 512 on and off, independent of thesnoring sound. The control unit 514 may comprise an adjustable on andoff timer relay for setting the period of running the inflator 512. Bysetting the timer for the period less than the gaps between when thedevice disrupts the snoring and when the snoring starts again, theuser's head may be periodically raised to reduce or eliminate snoring.

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment of asleeve assembly in an inflated position.

In some embodiments, bladder assembly 510 may include a sleeve assembly517 and an inflatable bladder 516 configured to be received withinsleeve assembly 517.

In some embodiments, sleeve assembly 516 may serve as a pillow, or beused with a pillow.

In some embodiment, sleeve assembly 517 may include a plurality of rigidor semi-rigid segments 534, each segment being pivotally hinged to anadjacent segment at each end of the segment, such that inflatablebladder 516, during the inflation, is configured to expand the pluralityof rigid or semi-rigid segments 534 outwardly.

In some embodiment, the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments 534are configured to form a cylindrical or polygonal shape.

In some embodiment, each segment 534 may be pivotally hinged to anadjacent segment at a flexible component.

In some embodiment, the flexible component comprises extruded flexiblematerial. In some embodiment, the flexible components may be arelatively thin and soft component compared to rigid or semi-rigidsegments 534. Segments 534 and flexible components may be integrallyformed or extruded.

In some embodiment, sleeve assembly 517 may include a plurality offlexible pockets or sacs 535, each pocket 535 being configured toreceive a corresponding one of the plurality of rigid or semi-rigidsegments 534 within, each of the pockets 535 being hinged to adjacentpockets 535 for pivotal movement during the inflation.

The pockets 535 may provide additional comfort for a user as his or herhead is rested against bladder assembly 510.

In some embodiment, the rigid or semi-rigid segment 534 may include anelongated bar structure adapted to be received within the correspondingflexible pocket 535.

In some embodiment, sleeve assembly 517 may comprise a flexible sleevestructure 533 and a plurality of flat bars 534 or any other semi-rigidlongitudinal structure. The flexible sleeve structure 533 may be made offlexible plastic or robust fabric with parallel longitudinal sacs 535.The flat bars 534 may be made of light and hard material and may beseparated in two or many segments. By inserting one flat bar in each sac535 of the flexible sleeve structure 533, sleeve assembly 517 may forminto a reinforced body. By inflating the bladder 516 placed insidesleeve assembly 517, sleeve assembly 517 may form a rigid cylindrical orpolygonal shape sleeve, extending and longitudinally transferring theexpansion motion of the inflatable bladder 516, thereby pushing up thepillow to change the position of the user's head.

For example, bladder assembly 510 may rise simultaneously alongside anentire length of a pillow if it is being used with a pillow by a user.

FIG. 7 shows a schematic view illustrating an example embodiment of asleeve assembly in a deflated position. Illustrated sleeve assembly 517is shown in a position when the bladder 516 (not shown) has beendeflated, resulting in sleeve assembly 517 to fold and reduce incross-sectional area, thereby causing the user's head to move down andback to the initial position.

Referring now to FIGS. 26A and 26C, which illustrate a schematic sideand top view, respectively, of another example sleeve assembly 517 whendeflated and flattened. In this example embodiment, sleeve assembly 517may include a plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments (e.g. bars) 634a, 634 b. In some embodiment, each segment 634 a, 634 b may be pivotallyhinged to an adjacent segment 634 a, 634 b at each end of the segment634 a, 634 b, such that inflatable bladder 516, during inflation, isconfigured to expand the plurality of rigid or semi-rigid segments 634a, 634 b, 634 c outwardly, as shown in FIG. 26B.

The plurality of segments 634 a, 634 b, 634 c may have varying widths.For example, segments 634 a may have a shorter width than segments 634b. This way, the plurality of segments 634 a, 634 b are configured toform an irregular polygonal shape when expanded.

When expanded by an inflated bladder 516 (see FIG. 26B), the sleeveassembly 517 may have a segment 634 b, which has a greater width thanthat of its adjacent segments 634 a, positioned at the bottom of thebladder assembly 110, where a user's head may be positioned on or nearthe top of the bladder assembly 110 across from the bottom. As can beseen, the width of the segment 634 b positioned at the bottom has asufficient dimension to cover and support a corresponding width of abottom surface of the inflated bladder 516. The corresponding width ofthe bottom surface of the inflated bladder 516 may be, in some cases,the entire width of the bottom surface of the bladder 516. Thisconfiguration may provide greater stability, such as stationarystability, during the process of inflation or deflation, and when thebladder assembly 110 is inflated for use.

In some cases, this embodiment may limit the foldability of the sleeveassembly 517 in one direction, which may reduce material fatigue andprolong the durability of both bladder and sleeve assemblies.

Even though only segments 634 a, 634 b with two varying widths have beenillustrated in FIGS. 26A to 26C, it is to be appreciated that sleeveassembly 517 may include segments with at least three varying widths.

In some embodiment, each segment 634 a, 634 b may be pivotally hinged toan adjacent segment at a flexible component (not shown). For example, asillustrated in FIG. 26B, each segment 634 a, 634 b may be pivotallyhinged to adjacent segments 634 b, 634 a.

The flexible component may be made from extruded flexible material. Insome embodiment, the flexible components may be a relatively thin andsoft component compared to rigid or semi-rigid segments 634 a, 634 b.Segments 634 a, 634 b and flexible components may be integrally formedor extruded.

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate various sizes of an inflatable bladder 516compared to a sleeve assembly 517 in some embodiments. As size of theinflatable bladder 516 becomes smaller, speed of inflation to apre-determined pressure increases, a smaller bladder 516 (FIG. 8B) wouldrequire less air flow to achieve the same height as a bigger bladder 516(FIG. 8A). Assuming a constant rate of air inflation, a smaller bladder516 (FIG. 8B) would also require less time to achieve the same height asa bigger bladder 516 (FIG. 8A) during one cycle.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruption forone user with an optional control device. As shown, a housing 630 mayinclude air inflator 140 and other electronics, including for exampleone or more of controller 130 and audio processor 150. A conduit 620 mayextend from air inflator 140 within housing 630, the conduit 620coupling to a bladder assembly 610. An audio processor or microphone615, which can also function as an ON/OFF switch and include atransceiver, may be in wireless communication with a controller 130within housing 630 to transmit sound waves and other electronic signals.An additional ON/OFF switch 640 may be provided to allow a user'spartner to switch the apparatus on or off.

FIG. 11 is an example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruption withtwo audio sensors or microphones on bladder assembly 610. As shown, ahousing 630 may include air inflator 140 and other electronics,including for example one or more of controller 130 and audio processor150. The microphones 615 a, 615 b may be configured to discern thelocation of a snoring sound if multiple sleepers are snoring. Each ofthe two microphones 615 a, 615 b may be placed close to a respective endof bladder assembly 610 so that sound waves from a particular source(e.g. an user) adjacent to one microphone 615 a may be more easilycaptured or discerned. For example, a sound wave may be filtered andrecognized to be from a particular user as compared to sound waves froma different source (e.g. user's partner sleeping next to user) closer tosecond microphone 615 b. An audio processor 150 or controller 130 may beconfigured to discern the source of any sound wave coming from aparticular microphone, in accordance with methods described herein. Forexample, a user may be facing one microphone 615 a as opposed to theother microphone 615 b, so having two microphones 615 a, 615 b placedstrategically on bladder assembly 610 may facilitate better recording ofsound waves coming from a user. For another example, if the user'spartner is also sleeping next to the user and is a source of sound waves(e.g. snores or sleep-talking), two microphones can also help withdiscerning the user's snoring sound, through for instance atriangulation of sound wave signals.

For example, the audio processor may be configured to filter the soundwaves to discern a snoring sound of the user from one or more snoringsounds of one or more people other than the user.

Each of microphones 615 a, 615 b may be connected to or including atransceiver for transmitting sound waves to components housed withinhousing 630. An ON/OFF switch 640 may be provided for easy andconvenient user control.

FIG. 12 is another example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruptionor prevention. In this embodiment, a microphone 615 may be placed onconduit 620 as opposed to bladder assembly 610. Microphone 615 may beconnected to components in housing 630 either through wire or wirelesslyfor transmission of sound wave signals.

FIG. 13 is another example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruptionwith two microphones. Compared to embodiment shown in FIG. 11, inaddition to one or more of controller 130 and audio processor 150,housing 630 may also include components such as ON/OFF switch, optionalmicrophone, and may further include other decorative elements such aslight source, clock display, radio, and so on.

As shown, all electronic or noisy components such as air inflator 140,electronic circuits, on/off control, on/off control, and optionaldecorative components such as light, clock, radio and so son may behoused in a housing 630 and placed relatively close to the user, if apre-determined minimal level of noise, radiation, and electromagneticfield reaches the user from housing 630 while the apparatus is on.

FIG. 14 is an example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruption fortwo users. As shown, a housing 630 may include one or more air inflators140 and other electronics. Two or more conduits 620 a, 620 b may extendfrom air inflator 140 within housing 630, each conduit 620 a, 620 bcoupling to a respective bladder assembly 610 a, 610 b. An audioprocessor or microphone 615 including a transceiver may be in wirelesscommunication with a controller 130 or audio processor 150 withinhousing 630 to transmit sound waves and other electronic signals. One ormore ON/OFF switches 640 a, 640 b may be provided, each configured tocontrol a respective bladder assembly 610 a, 610 b or the entireapparatus.

In some embodiment, ON/OFF switches 640 a, 640 b may optionally includea microphone. Audio processor 150 may be coupled to a plurality of audiosensors or microphones 615, 640 a, 640 b and configured to receive soundwaves from the plurality of sources as detected by the one or moremicrophones 615, 640 a, 640 b, and audio processor 150 may be configuredto identify a location of a snorer by analyzing the sound waves from theplurality of sources 615, 640 a, 640 b. For example, analyzing the soundwaves may include triangulation of sound waves coming from the pluralityof microphones 615, 640 a, 640 b.

FIG. 15 is another example diagram of an apparatus for snore disruptionfor two users. In this embodiment, there may be a plurality ofmicrophones 615 a, 615 b, 615 c, which may be configured to receivesound waves from one or more sources (e.g. users). A control unit may beoperable to apply triangulation method in order to discern sources ofvarious sound waves coming from different microphones 615 a, 615 b, 615c, such that location or pattern of specific sound waves may bedetermined. For example, a location of a source of a snoring sound maybe determined. For another example, a user's snoring sound may bedetermined based on a user's snoring pattern or any other uniqueindication, even among a plurality of users snoring at or around thesame time. One or more of the microphones 615 a, 615 b, 615 c may alsofunction as an ON/OFF switch or include a transceiver. In someembodiments, each of the device 615 a, 615 b, 615 c may include aplurality microphones, as shown.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a method of snore detection anddisruption as performed by an apparatus for snore disruption. The method700 may include: at step 701, detecting or receiving sound wave by anaudio sensing component; at step 702, analyzing, by a controller incommunication with the audio sensing component, said sound wave todetermine if a snoring sound has occurred; at step 703, upon determiningthat the snoring sound has occurred: at step 704, activating an airinflator outside of the pillow, by the controller, to inflate and expandan inflatable bladder assembly to cause a pillow to move to a raisedposition, wherein the bladder assembly is connected to the air inflatorthrough a conduit, the conduit extendable from the bladder assembly at adistance so that the user is not disturbed by any sound of the airinflator being activated; and at step 705, deactivating the airinflator, by the controller, after a pre-determined period of time, tolower the pillow from the raised position.

In some embodiments, the method may further include determining, by anaudio processor: 1) that the snoring sound has occurred; and 2) andigital snore signature of the snoring sound by processing the soundwaves.

In some embodiments, the digital snore signature may include electronicidentification data corresponding to a recognized user. The electronicidentification data may be, for example, a snoring frequency, a snoringpitch, a sleeping location, or time of snoring through a sleep durationof a certain amount.

User profiles may be stored locally or remotely, for example, atdatabase 220. Each user profile may include a snoring profile and otheruser information such as name, age, gender, occupation, and so on.

Each snoring profile may include a user's historical snoring patterndata, any relevant medical information, and other electronic informationpertaining to the user's snoring habits.

In some embodiments, an audio processor may be configured to recognize auser associated with the sound wave and the snoring sound using storedhistorical sound waves. The historical sound waves may for examplecorrespond or represent a user's snoring pattern as stored in a user'ssnoring profile. The historical sound waves may be analyzed to generatea digital snore signature.

In some embodiments, the method 700 may include recognizing andfiltering the sound wave to discern the snoring sound from other typesof sounds. The method may further include receiving confirmation of thedetected snoring sound or an error to refine the audio processor usingmachine learning. Machine learning may include using user feedback asreceived from local or remote database to refine the process to filterand recognize the received sound waves. The user feedback may include,for example, user snoring patterns from other users or from the sameusers. Machine learning can also enhance the overall performance bycorrelating conditions leading to best results from one user or multipleusers.

For example, as seen in FIG. 17, a method of discerning snoring isshown. At step 801, sound waves are received by an audio sensor 160 ofapparatus 10, 20, 50; at step 802, a filter is applied to the receivedsound waves to generate processed sound waves. The filter at step 802may be a band-pass filter (e.g. combination of high and low filter) tolimit transmission to the audio processor 150 to the frequenciesrelevant or needed for detecting or recognizing snoring. In anotherembodiment, the filter in step 802 may only filter sounds based on avolume threshold; at step 803, signals representing processed soundwaves are transmitted to audio processor 150; at step 804, audioprocessor 150 may receive the transmitted signals; at step 805, a secondfilter is applied to the received signals to generate a second set ofprocessed sound waves, the filter in step 805 may be a band-pass filterto narrow the received audio signals to frequencies relevant or neededfor detecting snoring; at step 806, the processed sound waves areanalyzed to determine if a snoring sound has occurred; if it has, thenat step 807, a control signal may be sent to controller 130 to activatethe air inflator 140.

In one embodiment, any one of controller 130, audio sensor 160 and audioprocessor 150 may perform steps 801, 802, 805, 806, 807, eliminating theneed for steps 803 and 804. For example, filter in step 802 and filterin step 805 may be combined into one filter.

Referring back to FIG. 16, the method 700 may include correlating thesound waves to additional sound waves received from other devices andstored on a shared or cloud storage device such as database 220. Theadditional sound waves may be from the same user, or from differentusers.

In some embodiments, the method 700 may include actuating the inflatablebladder assembly for different lengths of time and different intervalsof time based on one or more inflation patterns.

In some embodiments, the method 700 may include: 1) predicting theoccurrence of the snoring sound prior to a detection of the snoringsound from the sound waves; and 2) triggering the controller to actuatethe inflatable bladder assembly, the prediction based on a snoringprofile of a user, the snoring profile comprising at least historicaluser data.

For example, users may have different snoring profiles with differentsnoring patterns. A snoring pattern may be, for example, user Atypically starts snoring 2 hours from bedtime or a specific time of theday (e.g. 11 PM). Based on user A's snoring pattern, controller 130 oraudio processor 150 may predict when a user is likely to start snoring,and activate the air inflator to prevent such snoring prior to theactual occurrence of snoring.

For another example, prediction of snoring may also be based on otherusers' snoring profile including corresponding snoring patterns. Forinstance, if user A belongs to a user group that has similarcharacteristics or attributes, such as any combination of age, gender,ethnicity, weight and so on, then based on historical user data, it maybe determined that user A likely has a snoring pattern similar to theaverage snoring pattern of the users of said user group. Therefore, theapparatus may employ other users' snoring profiles or snoring patterns,as stored locally or remotely, in order to make a prediction as to whenuser A is likely to snore, or how often user A likely snores during anight. This way, even without user A's personal snoring pattern data, anapparatus may be operable to predict user A's snoring occurrence andactivates air inflator to inflate bladder assembly in order to preventuser A's snoring.

The disclosure herein provides many example embodiments of the inventivesubject matter. Although each embodiment represents a single combinationof inventive elements, the inventive subject matter is considered toinclude all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus if oneembodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and a second embodimentcomprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is alsoconsidered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D,even if not explicitly disclosed.

Some embodiments of the devices, systems and methods described hereinmay be implemented in a combination of both hardware and software. Theseembodiments may be implemented on programmable computers, each computerincluding at least one processor, a data storage system (includingvolatile memory or non-volatile memory or other data storage elements ora combination thereof), and at least one communication interface.

Program code is applied to input data to perform the functions describedherein and to generate output information. The output information isapplied to one or more output devices. In some embodiments, thecommunication interface may be a network communication interface. Inembodiments in which elements may be combined, the communicationinterface may be a software communication interface, such as those forinter-process communication. In still other embodiments, there may be acombination of communication interfaces implemented as hardware,software, and combination thereof.

Numerous references may be made regarding servers, services, interfaces,portals, platforms, or other systems formed from computing devices. Itshould be appreciated that the use of such terms is deemed to representone or more computing devices having at least one processor configuredto execute software instructions stored on a computer readable tangible,non-transitory medium. For example, a server can include one or morecomputers operating as a web server, database server, or other type ofcomputer server in a manner to fulfill described roles,responsibilities, or functions.

The term “connected” or “coupled to” may include both direct coupling(in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact eachother) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional elementis located between the two elements). “Coupled to” or “coupled with” mayinclude both wired connection or wireless connection.

The technical solution of embodiments may be in the form of a softwareproduct. The software product may be stored in a non-volatile ornon-transitory storage medium, which can be a compact disk read-onlymemory (CD-ROM), a USB flash disk, or a removable hard disk. Thesoftware product includes a number of instructions that enable acomputer device (personal computer, server, or network device) toexecute the methods provided by the embodiments.

The embodiments described herein are implemented by physical computerhardware, including in some embodiments computing devices, servers,receivers, transmitters, processors, memory, displays, and networks. Theembodiments described herein provide useful physical machines andparticularly configured computer hardware arrangements. The embodimentsdescribed herein are directed to electronic machines and methodsimplemented by electronic machines adapted for processing andtransforming electromagnetic signals which represent various types ofinformation. The embodiments described herein pervasively and integrallyrelate to machines, and their uses; and the embodiments described hereinhave no meaning or practical applicability outside their use withcomputer hardware, machines, and various hardware components.Substituting the physical hardware particularly configured to implementvarious acts for non-physical hardware, using mental steps for example,may substantially affect the way the embodiments work. Such computerhardware limitations are clearly essential elements of the embodimentsdescribed herein, and they cannot be omitted or substituted for mentalmeans without having a material effect on the operation and structure ofthe embodiments described herein. The computer hardware is essential toimplement the various embodiments described herein and is not merelyused to perform steps expeditiously and in an efficient manner.

Although the embodiments have been described in detail, it should beunderstood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can bemade herein without departing from the scope as defined by the appendedclaims.

Moreover, the scope of the present application is not intended to belimited to the particular embodiments of the process, machine,manufacture, composition of matter, means, methods and steps describedin the specification. As one of ordinary skill in the art will readilyappreciate from the disclosure, processes, machines, manufacture,compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing orlater to be developed, that perform substantially the same function orachieve substantially the same result as the corresponding embodimentsdescribed herein may be utilized. Accordingly, the appended claims areintended to include within their scope such processes, machines,manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

As can be understood, the examples described above and illustrated areintended to be exemplary only.

What is claimed here is:
 1. An apparatus for disrupting or preventingsnoring, the apparatus comprising: a bladder assembly comprising asleeve assembly and an inflatable bladder configured to be receivedwithin the sleeve assembly, wherein the sleeve assembly comprises aplurality of rigid segments, each rigid segment being pivotally hingedto an adjacent rigid segment; the inflatable bladder configured to:inflate to expand the plurality of rigid segments outwardly along alongitudinal axis of the bladder assembly to raise an entire top surfaceof the bladder assembly substantially in parallel; and deflate to lowerthe entire top surface of the bladder assembly substantially inparallel; wherein a total time of inflation and deflation comprises oneinflation cycle; a conduit connecting the inflatable bladder to an airinflator, the air inflator for inflating the inflatable bladder; acontroller in communication with the air inflator, the controllerconfigured to actuate the air inflator; suspension components to suspendthe air inflator inside a soundproof housing; and an audio processor incommunication with the controller, the audio processor being configuredto detect sound waves including a snoring sound, and transmit controlcommands to the controller to actuate the air inflator to initiate theone inflation cycle once a trigger event is detected.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to actuate the airinflator on with an inflating time, and subsequently off with adeflating time, to provide the inflation cycle initiated once thetrigger event is detected.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to control a speed at which the air inflatorinflates the inflatable bladder of the bladder assembly at apre-determined inflation rate to provide different inflation patterns.4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus further comprises anaudio sensor or microphone coupled to the audio processor to receive thesound waves.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inflatable bladderis configured to form a cylindrical or polygonal shape.
 6. The apparatusof claim 5, wherein the plurality of rigid segments comprise at least afirst segment with a first width and a second segment with a secondwidth, wherein the first width is greater than the second width, andwherein the first segment is positioned below the inflatable bladderwhen the inflatable bladder is inflated.
 7. The apparatus of claim 5,wherein each segment is pivotally hinged to an adjacent segment at aflexible component.
 8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the sleeveassembly comprises a plurality of longitudinal pockets, eachlongitudinal pocket hinged to an adjacent pocket for pivotal movementduring the inflation, each pocket configured to receive at least one ofthe plurality of rigid segments.
 9. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe bladder assembly is collapsible or foldable.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the suspension components include one or more of: aring, a saddle, a cylinder, a sleeve, or a spring.
 11. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is configured to actuate the airinflator to inflate the inflatable bladder until at least one of: apressure control reaches a pre-determined pressure; or the bladderassembly reaches a pre-determined size.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the audio processor couples to one or more audio sensors ormicrophones and is configured to receive the sound waves from aplurality of sources as detected by the one or more audio sensors ormicrophones, and wherein the audio processor is configured to identify auser by analyzing the sound waves, the user being one of the pluralityof sources.
 13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the audio processorcouples to two or more audio sensors or microphones and is configured toreceive the sound waves from a plurality of sources as detected by thetwo or more audio sensors or microphones, and wherein the audioprocessor is configured to identify a location of a user by analyzingthe sound waves, the user being one of the plurality of sources.
 14. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the bladder assembly is configured forplacement within an opening of a pillow, under the pillow or having anintegrated padding to provide the pillow.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the controller is configured to actuate the air inflator onuntil a pressure control reaches an inflation pressure, and subsequentlyoff until the pressure control reaches a deflation pressure, to providethe inflation cycle initiated once the trigger event is detected. 16.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the trigger event comprises at leastone of: detection of a snore sound; identification of a snore sound of auser; a pattern of a snore profile stored in a memory of the apparatus;a prediction of a snore sound; or a predefined time period.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein inflation of the inflatable bladder causesthe bladder assembly to expand, which transforms the bladder assemblyfrom being structurally flexible to structurally rigid, and changes theheight of the bladder assembly uniformly and simultaneously across itslength, and wherein the bladder assembly is configured to support a headof a user during the inflation, regardless of the location of the user'shead.
 18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the bladder assembly furthercomprises one or more additional inflatable bladders positioned withinthe bladder assembly, each inflatable bladder connected to: theinflator; or a separate corresponding inflator.